


Roses don't cut it

by basedongalra



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 21:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17774816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/basedongalra/pseuds/basedongalra
Summary: It’s Sendak’s first Valentine’s Day with Shiro as boyfriend’s, and Sendak is dead set on upstaging Shiro’s fanbase and giving gifts befitting for an emperor.





	Roses don't cut it

**Author's Note:**

> _shendak server valentines exchange event._   
> 

In the two years Sendak had been a resident on earth, he still couldn’t understand the human custom in courting on certain days. Valentine’s Day was the worst out of all of them. Naturally, he understood the ritual to display his capability on how well he could provide for his potential mate; but with chick-flicks? That sounded beyond pathetic, even though he had no idea what those even were. Stuffed animals? Which he guessed weren’t even actually alive at some point, and what was it with the balloons? Rubber floating shapes that were less than desirable, especially when his claws pressed too hard and it popped, releasing an unpleasant sound that left painful ringing in his ears.

Grumbling at the thought of hearing one of those god awful contraptions again, he clicked his claws against the keyboard on the library’s computer. Eyes scanning the screen with an annoyed glare, he searched through countless articles about what couples did on Valentine’s Day, or what someone expected from their spouse. 

Chocolate appeared a lot, so Sendak made sure to find a simple enough recipe before flipping over to another tab he had been listening too. It was a live stream on Youtube, a horror game being played by Takashi Shirogane. Rather famous, and not to mention the beautiful human male that captured his stone cold heart. Fur around his neck puffing up into a thick mane briefly at how he was able to gain such a man. Sendak sighed and couldn’t help the little smile that tugged at his lips. But it faded as his eyes settled on the live chat that was opened to the right of the video. Countless comments filling the box.

Sendak had tons of competition. From what Shiro complained to him before about years passed, fans sent him a crap ton of stuff. From handmade fanart and goodies, all the way to official merchandise of his favorite animes. Just that alone edged him to put together a plan befitting of an emperor in order to impress Shiro. 

Turning back to his research tab, Sendak clicked on an article about flowers. They all mentioned roses, but why just get Shiro plain roses? He saw no meaning behind roses, but his ears fluttered with an idea. Shuffling through his pants pocket, he took out a datapad. 

With some quick finger work, he pulled up a Galran flower shop stationed not far from earth. He’d spent hours looking through this site, back when he tried finding flowers to give Shiro on the day he would confess. Shiro had beaten him to that - but now he could have an excuse to get him something as outrageous as an alien plant.

Feeling his plan come together, Sendak grinned big enough to expose his front fangs. Slamming a hand down on the table top, he shoved the datapad into his front pants pocket before printing off the chocolate recipe he had saved and rushed to grab it, then head off for shopping and back home to start baking. 

Back at the relocation center, Sendak raided the kitchen for supplies; setting down the bags full of ingredients he just bought before quickly setting tools aside for what the recipe had called for.

Eagerly pouring out the ingredients, Sendak then shuffled through the fridge and pulled out an entire salmon and set that beside the chocolate. Smiling, he set to work mixing everything up. Heavily focused to make sure this would be absolutely perfect. The salmon was to add flavor, knowing how much fish was in Shiro’s diet and believed this would be a pleasant surprise.

Sendak couldn’t wait to see Shiro’s reaction to his gifts.

As Valentine’s Day arrived, Sendak was fiddling with the bright, purple bow wrapped around a Galran size of a baker's dozen box. Yesterday he had special flowers sent over to Shiro’s apartment, and was waiting for the male to show up at the relocation center to pick him up for the day. 

His eyes constantly glanced down at his datapad. No word from Shiro about the flowers, but he could just ask when he arrived. He was driving, and couldn’t message him. Or maybe Shiro wanted to express his gratitude in person, even better.

A black car pulled up, and Sendak noticed the tuft of white hair Shiro had. He quickly pushed open the doors he had been standing at for the past hour and rushed over. As he drew closer, his steps sped up. Sendak came up to the car just as Shiro stepped out fully and shut the door behind him.

“Good morning Shiro, Happy Valentine’s Day,” Sendak purred, leaning down to softly lock lips for a second before holding out the box of handmade chocolates. 

Shiro gave a fond smile as he took the box from Sendak, holding them to his chest. “Happy Valentine’s Day, I didn’t keep you waiting long did I? I’m not late am I?” Shiro quickly muttered, looking down at his watch.

Sendak couldn’t help but laugh, watching him clam up, and shook his head. “You’re early. I just waited for an hour or so, I was too excited for today. I hope my first gift arrived safely?” 

“First gift?” Shiro piped up, opening the front car door to put his chocolates inside before turning back to Sendak. Leaning his arms over the top of the opened car door.

Sendak nodded, smiling as he moved around the front to slip into the passenger seat, after adjusting it fully back so there was enough room for his legs. “I sent some flowers to arrive in the morning, so the first thing you would have today was a gift from me.” he explained.

Shiro hopped back into the car, restarting it before glancing over at Sendak briefly and driving off.

“Flowers? The alien flowers?” Shiro questioned, Sendak’s ears fluttering when catching the ah’ha moment his boyfriend had.

Nodding, Sendak looked out the car window, watching the scenery move by as they went back to Shiro’s apartment. “Yes, you mentioned one of your favorite flowers were snapdragons. I thought it would be refreshing to have an alien equivalent to one.”

Shiro gave a warm smile, humming for a second. “You remembered...I was wondering who sent those, they’ve been mischievous all morning. They won’t stop trying to grab anything close enough and keep trying to nip me.” 

When they arrived at the apartment, Shiro grabbed the chocolate box and the two headed off inside. The flowers they were talking about on display on his island counter in the kitchen. 

“Do you like them? I thought a carnivorous plant was somewhat related to a snapdragon.” Sendak muttered, going over to gently scratch a claw under one of the three flowers that rested in a special vase; which was elongated to hold the tall plant cluster, the glass a soft color of a crystal blue; the sun glistening off it. The flower Sendak had scratched leaned into the touch, while the other two moved to nip along his hand gently. Shiro grinning at the sight.

“They are lovely, but troublemakers. However… snapdragons aren’t sentient plants. Their bodies are just shaped like a dragons face, and if you squeeze their throats, its mouth would open.” Shiro explained simply, setting the box of chocolates on the island, but far enough away that the plants couldn’t bend down to take them. 

Sendak’s ears flattened against his crest as he looked over, pulling his hand away from the plant. “Oh...I just assumed..” trailing off, he pouted a little bit. 

Shiro shakes his head quickly, reaching out to rub Sendak’s arm. It was comforting, Sendak relaxing instantly. “Don’t worry, I love them, they’ll be great company. And I love the cultural touch. Something out of this world is refreshing.” 

Moving to the box of chocolates, Shiro smiled and lifted it up, “Are these chocolates?” setting the box back down, he eagerly removed the purple ribbon before removing the top. Gorgeous, 13 brown cubes in little paper cups neatly filled the space.

“I made them myself, there is a surprise flavor.” Sendak purred out excitedly. Finding a stool to sit on as he watched with a little impatience. Sendak hoped all his hard work in the kitchen paid off.

Shiro picked up one of the chocolate cubes, which were actually quite pretty. “Really? I wonder what it could be then.” Taking a bite from the hefty sized cube, it took a couple bites before Shiro’s expression faltered from euphoric to one of concern.

Placing the cube he held back in the box, Sendak watched Shiro struggled to swallow the small amount he took. Sendak was worried now, ears back to pressing against his head nervously as he reached out to place his hand closer to where Shiro was holding onto the counter.

“Are they bad? Are you okay?” Sendak stuttered.

Shiro shook his head, finally swallowing his amount before clearing his throat. “Um, It was interesting…” glancing over, he gave an apologetic smile. “What flavor was it?”

“Salmon…”

“Salmon?!” 

Sendak nodded as he straightened up on the stool and placed his hands in his lap. “You eat a lot of fish, I thought Salmon chocolate would be a good combination...I liked them.” Rubbing his neck, Sendak laughed nervously.

Shiro placed his hand over the one Sendak kept reached out towards him. Rubbing his thumb over the top. “It’s a wonderful treat, but I don’t think I could eat this. Fish and chocolate don’t exactly...blend well together,” he tried to explain. 

Eyes drifting off to the plants that were all bent down towards him, snapping the air by the box. Grinning, Shiro reopened the box and took the cube he had started to eat, breaking it into three pieces before feeding each flower individually. 

“Well, if you don’t mind I’ll let our flowers enjoy your homemade chocolates this time, but I can’t wait to try any more handmade treats in the future.” Leaning in, Shiro placed a sweet kiss to Sendak's lips before leaving him briefly to grab a wrapped present off a nearby counter. It was a fairly large rectangular box, wrapped in a cheesy heart patterned wrapping paper with a big red bow.

“It’s just one present, but I hope you like it.”

Sendak’s cheeks dusted a slightly darker purple, gently taking the present from Shiro and setting it down before dragging his claws through the paper to tear it off. “One present is more than enough, I’m sorry my gifts weren’t exactly perfect,” Sendak murmured, working on freeing the box from its paper prison before lifting off the top.

Sendak was greeted with light pink and red tissue paper. Gripping the entire layer at once, he happily threw it over his shoulder and glanced down at the contents of the box. Inside was a silver laptop, complete with a mouse, and a custom mousepad that had a rather appealing picture of Shiro printed on it. Sendak could recall it was one of his merch items, but with a more special photo.

“A laptop?” he gasped, hastily pulling it out and looking it over in pure awe before he snapped up the mouse pad to stare at. Gently rubbing his thumbs over the printed picture. Shiro was shirtless, sitting on an old blue beach towel on the sand at a beach they’d visited a couple months ago. They weren’t dating then, but it was a rather fun day they spent together. Shiro had the biggest grin, hair wet and sticking across his forehead. His chest was puffed out, and his face concentrated as he tried keeping up the sandcastle he was building. Sendak had taken that photo secretly, and was honored Shiro used it.

Shiro smiled warmly as Sendak looked over the present with fond eyes. “Well, with you still trying to find a job and everything, I thought having your own laptop would be useful so you don’t have to constantly keep going to the library. And having access constantly, it’ll be easier to watch my videos.” he added.

Sendak set down the mouse pad before stepping off the stool and pulling Shiro into a loving embrace. His face nuzzling down into the mop of black and white hair. “It’s perfect, absolutely perfect. I can’t believe you.” he whispered, grinning against the other’s head as he just held him for a few moments before pulling away enough to stare down at Shiro, looking into those gorgeous grey eyes.

“I’ll make you new chocolates tomorrow, and bring them by after job hunting. It’s the least I can do to give you an equal gift exchange…” Bringing him back to his chest, Sendak started to purr gently. He scratched his claws through Shiro’s hair gently as his other hand wrapped around his waist and massaged his hip.

The two remained, basking in each other’s embrace for a few more moments before Shiro peeked up from his place nestled into Sendak's chest. “If you really want to you can make a new batch, but don’t worry about doing that right away. The gifts you gave me today were wonderful, and unexpected. I enjoy the personal touches. Now…”

Sendak let Shiro go when he gently pushed on his chest, and watched Shiro grab his phone and wave it in the air. “Let’s order some pizza, pick out some movies, and snuggle on the couch for today. I prefer couch dates.” he grinned.

Sendak hummed, nodding in agreement as they both settled on the couch to order their pizza and start their private date. Even if the presents weren’t a complete success, Sendak thought this was the perfect first Valentine’s Day experience, especially being able to see Shiro so happy and knowing he was the one to put that grin on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [basedongalra](https://basedongalra.tumblr.com/)  
> 


End file.
